WWI Memorial
Conceived by Washington architect Frederick H. Brooke in association with architects Horace W. Peaslee and Nathan C. Wyeth, the World War I Memorial commemorates the 26,000 citizens of Washington, D.C. who served in World War I. The domed peristyle Doric temple is located on the National Mall in West Potomac Park and intended to be used as a bandstand large enough to accommodate the 80-member U.S. Marine Corps Band. The memorial rises about 43 ft above its 4 ft marble base while twelve 22 ft Doric columns gracefully support the memorial's dome. Inscribed in the base are 499 names of Washingtonians who lost their life in the war. Authorized by Congress in 1924, the memorial was appropriately dedicated in 1931 on Armistice Day-the official end of WWI. It serves as the first war memorial to be built in West Potomac Park and stands as the only local memorial on the National Mall. -http://www.washingtondcpartyshuttle.com/attractions/wwi-memorial.php
Memorial Foundation
In March 2008, Frank Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of World War I, visited the District of Columbia War Memorial, on the National Mall in Washington DC. He observed that this peaceful, secluded memorial, dedicated in 1931 as a memorial to the 499 residents of the District of Columbia who gave their lives in that war, sits neglected and in extreme disrepair, and that there is no national memorial to World War I. Mr. Buckles issued a call for the restoration and re-dedication of the D.C. memorial as a National and District of Columbia World War I Memorial.
The World War I Memorial Foundation was formed to make Frank Buckles’ dream a reality. The mission of the Foundation is to advocate and raise funds for the re-dedication of the DC War Memorial as a national World War I memorial, dedicated to all those Americans who served in the Great War.
In 2014 the world will mark the centennial of World War I. Nearly 5 million Americans served during the war, and 116,516 Americans died in defense of democracy overseas. America’s support of its allies in World War I marked the first time in this nation’s history that American soldiers went abroad to defend foreign soil against aggression -- and it marked the true beginning of “the American century.”
Yet while the later conflicts of the 20th century - World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War -- rightfully have national memorials on the National Mall, there is no such memorial to “the Great War,” even though more Americans gave their lives in World War I than in Korea or Vietnam. The D.C. memorial, which is already located adjacent to those other memorials, is the most fitting site for a national World War I memorial.
-http://www.wwimemorial.org/
The World War I Memorial Foundation was formed to make Frank Buckles’ dream a reality. The mission of the Foundation is to advocate and raise funds for the re-dedication of the DC War Memorial as a national World War I memorial, dedicated to all those Americans who served in the Great War.
In 2014 the world will mark the centennial of World War I. Nearly 5 million Americans served during the war, and 116,516 Americans died in defense of democracy overseas. America’s support of its allies in World War I marked the first time in this nation’s history that American soldiers went abroad to defend foreign soil against aggression -- and it marked the true beginning of “the American century.”
Yet while the later conflicts of the 20th century - World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War -- rightfully have national memorials on the National Mall, there is no such memorial to “the Great War,” even though more Americans gave their lives in World War I than in Korea or Vietnam. The D.C. memorial, which is already located adjacent to those other memorials, is the most fitting site for a national World War I memorial.
-http://www.wwimemorial.org/
